News stories from Saturday December 16, 1972

Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:

Apollo 17's three astronauts began their journey back to earth tonight as scientists praised the mission's achievements and suggested that the moon may not be an altogether dead world. The craft rocketed out of orbit at 6:35 P.M., Eastern standard time, accelerating by some 2,000 miles an hour to break out of the embrace of lunar gravity. The astronauts are bringing back 249 pounds of lunar rocks and soil for the Apollo project scientists. [New York Times] Former President Harry S. Truman showed slight improvement in his struggle against an increasing number of medical problems. Physicians at the Kansas City, Mo., hospital where the 88-year-old Mr. Truman has been a patient for 12 days continued to describe his condition as "very serious." He is suffering from lung congestion, heart irregularity, and a kidney disorder. [New York Times] The Labor Department completed the ballot count that will end the 10-year rule of W.A. (Tony) Boyle over the United Mine Workers of America and turn control of the troubled union over to insurgents. The complete unofficial returns from the government-supervised balloting in 1,300 locals indicate that the controversial Boyle regime had been swept out by more than 14,000 votes, giving a decisive victory to Arnold Miller, the rank-and-file rebel candidate for the presidency. [New York Times] Henry Kissinger said that the negotiations between the United States and North Vietnam had so far failed to reach what President Nixon regarded as "a just a fair agreement" to end the Vietnam war. Breaking the administration's silence on his just-completed talks in Paris with Le Duc Tho, Hanoi's chief negotiator, Mr. Kissinger acknowledged that South Vietnam's objections to an agreement were serious, but insisted that Hanoi must accept the largest share of blame for the failure to reach an accord. [New York Times] In Paris, the North Vietnamese delegation issued a statement asserting that Mr. Kissinger's charges against Hanoi were "completely untrue." The statement, read by Nguyen Thanh Le, a spokesman, criticized the United States for breaking an agreement to avoid public comment on the private negotiations. The statement said Hanoi was prepared to sign the draft agreement and called on the United States to sign "without delay and without any change." [New York Times] With most of the northeastern United States in the grip of heavy snow, which was being whipped into drifts by strong winds, two fatal plane crashes and a number of traffic deaths brought the storm's toll to at least 12, five of the deaths were in the New York metropolitan area. [New York Times] World Health Organization scientists are expanding their use of computers to develop an "early warning system" to detect environmental health hazards, with the ultimate aim of building a worldwide monitoring and surveillance system to avoid major dangers. Such a system would keep watch on the physical, chemical, biological and social factors that affect health, such as disease-spreading insects and malnutrition. [New York Times] One of the biggest political storms in years broke out in Spain following the government's refusal to allow two of its long-time political opponents to run for the presidency of the Madrid Bar Association. The Ministry of Justice barred Jose Maria Gil Robles, a conservative Christian Democrat and enemy of Generalissimo Francisco Franco, and Enrique Tierno Galvan, a Socialist and former law professor. [New York Times]